Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-05-16
The Transfers Peril.

| am not mistaken, 1t Is blowing now
great guns down in the Notch"
These words were uttered by Ethan
Allen Crawford, as he stood in his
tavern door one day in midwinter,
with the snow about the house piled
up to the window-sills.
There had been a heavy storm the
night before Good two feet had
fallen, ,and as the snow was light, only
a moderate breeze would be necessary
to heap it up in huge drifts in every
direction. That this was coming,
he knew as we'll then as he did hours
afterwards.
The man whom he addressed was
about to Chamber upon heavily
loaded, two-horse pung that stood
before the door He was a strong,
we'll built man of some thirty years
of age, wrapped in a great buffalo
skin coat which came almost to his
feet. On his head was a red knit
cap from which depended a tassel of
the same color. This was pulled
well down over his ears, so that there
was but small portion of his face
exposed. In this garb it seemed that
he could bid defiance to the wind and
cold, no matter how severe he might
| q L II,
His horses, whose heads were turn
ed towards the Notch, were large and
powerful ones, good specimens of
those driven by Vermont teamsters
of those days. But they had the ap-
pearance of being somewhat tired, as
well they might, as they had come
good twenty miles that day through
the soft yielding snow which reached
| their knees at every step.
81 guess l will go on he answer
ed, as he cast a look away in the di-
rectiOn of the Notch, where the clouds
lay piled dark and heavy, though
edged with lighter hue, which in
those regions is always considered
sign of wind. ''There is a moon to-
night, and if I can get through to
your fathers, can catch up with the
rest of the party. They won't at
tempt to drive farther to-day. If l
can do that we can go into Portland
together. If don't catch up, l shall
be a day behind through all the trip"
81 hope you will make it all right,
Atkins, don't wonder that you want
to catch up with your friends. But
I'm afraid you will have tough job
to do tonight, if the wind whistles
as I'm sure it does now in the Notch
and below. If you get into trouble
there is no one to help you out this
side of fathers. The Wiley House is
shut up this winter
'sIve got to take the chances re-
turned Atkins. eff [ stay here to-
night, and the wind blows as you say
it is going to, l shouldn't get away
for a week. The road would be
blocked every step of the way from
here to Bartlett -
81 hope you will get through all
right, so long as you are bound to
CO." said Ethan.
''Fm sure l shall unless my horse
is taken lame again, as he was on
the last trip. He had a touch of it
this morning, and that, as [ told you,
is what got me behind. But he is all
right now. Good-day."
"Good-day," answered Crawford,
and then he said to himself as he re-
entered the bar-roOm, "If Hiram At
l1ins don't wish himself back here be-
fore he gets down to fathers, then |
won't set up for prophet again
The teamster himself knew that he
had no easy job before him when he
set his face in the direction of the
Notch. He expected to encounter
gale through the Pass, for as far as
his experience went it always blew
there. But he hoped when he had
got down the steepest of the descent |
towards the Wiley House, he would |
be in a measure sheltered from it.
The snow, if deep, was light, as the |
wind had had no chance to harden it. |
He felt sure that he would be able to |
reach Abel CrawfOrd's by midnight |
at the furthest, and then with his |
companions in the morning, 60 on to-
wards the city by the ocean.
For the first couple of miles the
road was quite decent. The half |
dozen teams of his companions had
beaten the neW-fallen snow well |
down, ,and he pursued his way without
difficulty. But that the wind was
coming, or that he was entering into
the region of it was apparent. He |
could hear it among the tree-tOps. and |
ever and anon, one by the roadside |
would send down shower of snow
upon his head, which blinded for a
moment both himself and his horses.
Upward and upward he climbed to-
wards the height of land at the Gate
of the Notch. The sun was already 1
down behind the great wall of the
western mountains, and the gloom of
evening was already gathering about
him. Nightfall comes early in that
narrow valley at all times, but in the
winter the afternoons are brief, in
deed.
With every passing minute it SEEM
ed that the wind was rising. The snow